Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i Classic Boat

This year’s Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta attracted beautifully maintained classic sail and – for the first time – motor yachts to Suffolk Yacht Harbour on Friday evening ahead of a wet and not so windy evening race on Friday 25 June. Despite the damp weather, spirits were high, with everyone happy to be back at a regatta again. Saturday morning broke in a blaze of sunshine. After bacon sandwiches and staggered, Covid-secure briefings, the yachts headed out to the start line in the estuary of the River Orwell. The Slow, Stella and Fast classes all set off on time for race one, which was soon abandoned for lack of wind and the strong tide pushing several of the fleet back towards the start line. After reports of more wind…

Fifty-nine boats, colourfully dressed with flags and pennants, graced the harbour in early June for the Yarmouth Gaffers Regatta, organised by Solent OGA, ranging from the diminutive 12ft Smacks Boat, Joy, owned by Steve Mitchell, to Pelham Olive’s mighty Alfred Mylne-designed Kelpie. Also joining in the event as part of their annual cruise were 16 Cape Cutters. The programme comprised two days of racing, an expedition up the river Yar in dinghies, fish and chips from the Blue Crab and a meal at the Royal Solent Yacht Club. There was a quiz and a creative challenge to amuse non-racers. The overall winner was Andy Paterson’s Codling. Class Winners were Class 1: Kelpie, Class 2: Spinaway X, Class 3: Lady Belle, Class 4: N/A, Class 5: Codling.…

Restored Herreshoff yachts were the focus of attention at the first of a year of events marking the Herreshoff Marine Museum’s 50th anniversary. Around 200 guests gathered, following the loosening of restrictions, at a waterfront reception at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court grounds on Newport Harbour on June 24. The yachts were the New York 30 Amorita, the New York 40 Marilee and the lone remaining New York 50 Spartan, accompanied by the power launch Corsair, built as a tender for JP Morgan’s 343ft yacht of that name. Since its founding in 1971, the Herreshoff Marine Museum has grown from being a ‘floating museum’ of Herreshoff boats to its status today consisting of a number of original company buildings, the Herreshoff family homestead, and a modern exhibition building,…

One of the first boats to be rated by CIM in the Mediterranean and a regular participant on the classic regatta circuit there, Windhover was built at Luke Brothers on the Hamble in 1904, originally called Waterlily, sometimes listed as Water Lily, in mahogany with a spruce mast. She was an early Albert Luke design and bears features typical of the Edwardian era. Sailed today as a Marconi sloop, the 36ft (11.2m) LOA Windhover has had no more than four owners in her life and remains remarkably authentic after a refit in Marseille 20 years ago. Among her many Med victories – she will sail at 10 knots in the right conditions – Windhover has been a regular competitor in the Gstaad Yacht Club’s annual Centenary Trophy, held at Les…

The weather conditions in the 1979 Fastnet race, in which 15 sailors lost their lives, were notoriously atrocious, but for some sailors the conditions in the 1957 race were just as bad, if not worse, although luckily there were no serious casualties. The race started on the morning of Saturday 10 August in a south-westerly gale which soon took its toll amongst the 44 boat fleet. In the western Solent, the French yacht Aile Noire and the Windfall yacht Overlord both retired into Yarmouth, the latter having broken her forestay. The rest of the fleet had a strong, favourable tide in the Needles Channel but that came at a price, of course, with the opposing wind resulting in big seas. It was here that the Household Brigade YC’s Gladeye carried away…

WINDSOR BELLE Thames day-tripping under steam Here’s something a bit different – charter rather than sale and steam rather than sail! Windsor Belle is a breathtakingly elegant teak steam launch of 60ft (18m), built by Burgoine on the upper Thames in 1901. She was converted back to steam and restored in 1986 and today looks immaculate; the period detail of her fit-out is something else. She’ll take up to 35 guests day-tripping or 24 for a sit-down meal, complete with bone china crockery, silver cutlery and crystal glasses. Day hire from £3,000, Lying upper Thames, Contact hscboats.co.uk MARTHA PRIMROSE Commodious bluewater yawl Martha Primrose is a traditional, plank-on-frame yawl built by Ashley Butler of Butler & Co in 2012. She’s 50ft 10in (15.5m) on deck and designed for comfortable, long-distance…

The 1950-built Glen Class sloop Margaret is looking a lot better than when she first featured in these pages a year ago! Owner Charles Rogers is working with Loftus and Johnson Boatbuilders to revive the 25ft (7.6m) bermudan sloop so he can sail her, with a colleague, around Britain to raise funds to combat cancer. The Glen Class, designed by Alfred Mylne, is nearly all extant today – the yachts race on Strangford Lough (UK) and Dublin Bay (Ireland). Tim Loftus previously restored another Glen Class sloop, Glendhu.…

In 2017, the young British boatbuilder Leo Goolden flew to Oregon to see the abandoned, 1910-built, Albert Strange-designed gaff cutter of 48ft (15m), Tally Ho. She proved her saltiness by winning the windy 1927 Fastnet. By 2017, she was in need of a rebuild, so Leo moved himself and the boat to Washington State and got started. Since then, his regular YouTube videos on the project have been watched by up to half a million viewers or more (per video!). The yacht is now framed, planked and painted, deck beams in place, ready for transportation to Port Townsend, Washington’s traditional boating hub, to be finished. Meanwhile, Leo still needs funding, which he’s been doing through Patreon – help him if you can at patreon.com/sampsonboatco. And be sure to visit YouTube…

Two decades after Mylor Yacht Harbour built a trio of classic wooden Falmouth Sunbeam yachts, the yard is now embarking on a new challenge: an immaculate Sunbeam finished to the specification of the 1920s originals – but made of GRP. The hull of Tilly arrives at Mylor next week, fresh from being moulded on the Isle of Wight from Alfred Westmacott’s original century-old design. This is the project of Ollie Graffy, part of the new generation of Sunbeam sailors at Mylor. “When the opportunity arose to get involved with building a modern version that has all the grace and style of the originals, performs the same, has a water-tight bulkhead and is much easier to maintain, we jumped at the chance.” Mylor’s great wish is to see many more Sunbeams…

As sail gave way to steam so the fid, palm and needle used for repairing cloth gave way to the heavy hand tools required to keep an engine running. With luck, a problem might be rectified with a twiddle of the screwdriver or squeeze of pliers, but desperate situations call for desperate remedies, and it’s the hammer, sledgehammer and bolt cutters that head one old list of hand tools for the engine room. In any case, it’s likely that a spanner – also called wrench – will assist, so long as the right one is to hand. Given the variety of nuts and bolts aboard old vessels it may be an adjustable spanner that saves the day, if used with care. An adjustable spanner rarely stands up to the forces…

NEW KETCH She’s 50ft long, brand new, all wooden and she carries the rare ketch rig. Read about the latest creation from designer Nigel Irens and builder, Elephant Boatyard. SCHOONER TO HAITI Chris Museler, our man in the USA, ships aboard the wooden schooner Charlotte with her builder Nat Benjamin to sail to Haiti on an aid mission – and to enjoy some great sailing. JACK LONDON’S SAILOR Fred Mortimer, the old-fashioned seadog who was an inspiration to the novelist Jack London PLUS… Meet Nick Smith, builder of the perfect gentleman’s harbour launch; we visit boatbuilder John McShea, Kim Holman’s razor-sharp Stiletto and much more SEPTEMBER 2021 ON SALE Friday 16 August, 2021 Available online. Or why not subscribe? 30 YEARS AGO August 1991, CB38 The cover features the glorious…

We have produced a type eminently fit or racing or cruising in all waters, and we anticipate a demand which will enable us to lay down boats in batches during that slack season inevitable in the Yacht-Building industry, and thus provide continuous employment throughout the year for our best hands. These boats have been before the public for four seasons. And their performances have justified our confidence in the design. Their all-round excellence under all conditions of wind and weather has been endorsed by every Owner and helmsman. Notwithstanding the very moderate sail-plan, they are surprisingly fast in light weather, while the ample free-board ensures buoyance and dryness in a seaway. They are beautifully balanced and easy to steer.” So reads the brochure for the West Solent Restricted One Design…

The 60th anniversary of the 24-hour Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads saw a rare win by a river cruiser, after some tactical sailing by Moonraker helm Chris Pank, writes Sandy Miller. The 50-mile course over the rivers Ant, Bure and Thurne, hosted by Horning Sailing Club, is a famous test of endurance. Seamanship and judgement of wind and tides, as well as avoiding potential congestion hot spots, can make all the difference. Boats can round four turning buoys in any order and Moonraker was one of only five of the 100-plus starters to opt for Hickling before Acle, having avoided the two busy short legs off the Bure at the start. She finished with a corrected time of 12hrs 58mins. Norfolk Punts and Thames A-Raters are traditionally favourites…

Tourists barely knew which way to look as 30 classics paraded off St Mark’s Square in Venice, in the eighth edition of a stunning regatta organised by the Monaco consul to Venice with the Venice Yacht Club and the Sailing Club Il Portodimare. It goes by the unwieldy name of the Principality of Monaco Trophy Le Vele d'Epoca in Laguna Coppa BNL-BNP Paribas Private Banking & Wealth Management. The winners were Ciao Pais in the Epoca category and Nembo II in the Classics category. On the Saturday the boats raced on a triangle course in the waters in front of the Lido, while on Sunday morning they headed towards the basin of San Marco for the traditional parade. This year onlookers were able to admire the Palinuro, a three-masted naval…

A lifelong marine surveyor and a valued presence on the English east coast sailing scene, Bill MacGregor died in December at the age of 80, writes Jonathan Lewis. Bill surveyed over 4,000 vessels and had a particular affinity for wooden boats, both as an owner and restorer and as a surveyor superintending the rebuilding of sailing barges, smacks and bawleys. Admitted by the Royal Institute of Naval Architects in 1983 and a surveyor member of the Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association since 1988, he acted for owners, insurers, builders and financial institutions. His expertise spanned welded steel ships of all classes, as well as fishing vessels, yachts and workboats. Bill was born in 1940 in Glasgow to a merchant seaman father and nurse mother. He wanted to be a doctor,…

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The Shipshape Heritage Training Partnership (SHTP) created and managed by National Historic Ships UK (NHS-UK), has its origins in 2010 when NHS-UK set up the Shipshape Network to promote regeneration of traditional skills and bring together people engaged in training schemes. As part of that, a survey was carried out to see what traditional skills might be in decline, and around the same time Hannah Cunliffe, then NHS-UK’s policy and project manager before being promoted to director in 2017, was approached by various operators of traditional vessels having difficulty recruiting people with a knowledge of rigs such as gaff, lug and sprit. So NHS-UK set up a working group to consider a training scheme. By good fortune, around the same time the Heritage Lottery Fund launched its Skills for the…

TOM CUNLIFFE Classic Boat Quiet, Convenient, Reliable and Easy-to-Use In the popular 2-4hp category, the latest electric outboards – with their integral and rechargeable lithium batteries – have transformed the market, rendering petrol motors all-but obsolete. Advantages include: › Ease of Use Switch on, twist the tiller handles, go. Almost anybody can do it; no experience, strength or mechanical knowledge is needed.› Ease of Handling The batteries are removable, and the “pass up and down” weight (the shaft/motor assembly) is then 10kg or less.› Ease of Storage These electric motors divide into components, don’t leak oil or petrol, and don’t mind which way up they’re stored.› Quietness & Smoothness Electric motors are a delight to use.› Power Forget slow speed “trolling motors”, these 1kW electrics have huge torque (more like…

Interior design on classic yachts has been increasing in its sophistication for years, as this photo by newly-launched fabric company Smith & Noor shows. Smith & Noor supplied much of the fabric for the interior designers, Celine Interior Design, when Sir Malcolm Campbell’s old yacht, the Dunkirk little ship Bluebird of Chelsea, was revamped inside recently. The 1931-built Thornycroft TSDY of 52ft (16m) latterly belonged to the art dealer Martin Summers, who had the yacht restored in the mid-1980s. She has now been sold to the London club 5 Hertford Street, who will charter the boat to its members, and those of the nearby club Oswald’s.…

She might only be 14ft (4.3m) in length, but after 2,000 man hours in two years, this little runabout is looking mirror perfect. The work was carried out by Hungarian boatbuilder Zoltan Koszegi, who has live in Britain for 12 years, and previously worked in Plymouth, Devon, with Will Stirling. It seems this motorboat nearly fell victim to waterside privatisation on the Hungarian shores of the Danube, where the rush towards high-spec waterside developments has meant the clear out and burning of many old wooden boats like this, which is of a shape known as ‘tulip rose’ in Hungary. Luckily, Zoltan’s father was able to save this one as a birthday present to his son, who brought her back to England to rebuild the mahogany hull and put on a…

When Europeans began to discover, then colonise, New Zealand, the islands were blessed with huge quantities of native timbers of various species, many of them highly suitable for boatbuilding. Indeed, when Captain James Cook arrived in NZ, he felled a number of tall, straight kauri trees for spars. Almost without exception, these boatbuilding species are now extremely rare. Many are no longer commercially harvested, and boatbuilders who want them often have to rely on luck, by stumbling across timber being recycled, or by finding some being stored for a worthwhile use. Much the best NZ boatbuilding timber is kauri. Native to the northern part of the North Island, at one time its felling, milling and marketing provided work for almost 6,000 employees of the Kauri Timber Company. Not only is…

At the end of May, Boris Johnson proclaimed a fresh interest in commissioning a new royal yacht. Why, you might ask, do we need a new one when the iconic Britannia, now tethered as a museum piece at Leith, looks good enough to be given a fresh lease of life for moderately less than a new build? It’s been done before. Mark Getty had the 91-year-old classic 262ft (80m) motor yacht Talitha, built at the Krupp shipyard back in 1930 for Bruce D Algar of the Packard Car Company, completely restored by Pendennis Shipyard to a redesign by Jon Bannenberg and associates. She remains one of the most popular charter yachts in the Mediterranean. Britannia has such timeless lines and is readily recognised the world over. No one could resist…

While Falmouth accommodated the media centre and the police accommodation ship for the G7 Summit on Cornwall’s north coast, for many people another event simultaneously hosted by the town was of somewhat greater interest. The return of Falmouth Classics after cancellation last year was a huge success in terms of entry numbers and the weather. The event was sponsored by Falmouth Harbour Commissioners who are celebrating their 150th anniversary, also postponed from last year. Although entries in pre-Covid years were approaching 200 boats, this year’s turn out of 150 was significantly higher than the 50-or-so initially expected. “We were overjoyed by the response,” said event vice chairman Don Garman. The format was the same as it has been for several recent years: two races on Friday, one race on Saturday…

St Mawes Sailing Club’s Pilot Cutter regatta at the end of May seemed to provide extra pleasure to competitors and spectators alike after the 2020 event had been cancelled. Twelve boats took part – not all, strictly speaking, Pilot Cutters, but all welcome – in three races which took place in glorious long-awaited summer weather. The individual race winners were Alice Wragg (1999 Westernman), Cornubia (1911 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter) and Eve of St Mawes (the first pilot cutter built by Luke Powell, in 1997). The overall winner was Holly Mae, a gaff cutter based on West Country work boats of a century ago and built near Penzance in 2010. Her impressively consistent results included a third and two seconds.…

HRH the Princess Royal visited Thames Sailing Club, best known to CB readers for its Thames A-Raters, on June 22, to launch the club’s redevelopment. The Princess was given the first copy of the club’s new book, linked to Thames’ 150-year history, making it Britain’s oldest river sailing club. Commodore Matt Kyte said: “A great history is no guarantee of a future, but this redevelopment will help ensure the club continues to be home of both classic boats and modern watersports such as SUPs."…

Electric boats made their mark at the Saline Nautico Venezia, held in the first week of June. With an E-Village with 30 exhibitors, the E-Regatta was also a success. On the evening of 2 June, a procession of 23 electric boats made a circuit of La Serenissima, from the Arsenale, along the Grand Canal, out into the San Marco Basin and back to the recharger-equipped parking jetty. Day two saw eight boats participate in a come-and-go slalom, won by the Slovenian-Austrian e'dyn. The same fleet then took part in a world first – the E-Ballerina – with each boat 'dancing' to their chosen music. Choices ranged from The Beach Boys and Freddy Mercury to Tarantella and Barcarole. Points were awarded for manoeuvrability, music and originality. This too was won by…

A new Nannie figurehead has been installed on the Cutty Sark. The original figurehead was damaged in a storm in the 19th century. A replacement, installed in 1957, has suffered due to environmental damage and rot. The new one was produced by Andy Peters, who was inspired to become a carver after visiting Cutty Sark as a boy. Inspiration came from a drawing by the Cutty Sark’s designer and builder, Hercules Linton, for the design in the 1860s. The name Nannie comes from Tam O'Shanter, the Robert Burns poem that was the inspiration for the name of the ship.…

Many racing classes have a particular trophy that owners covet more than any other. But over long periods of time, the continuity of competition for such a trophy is usually interrupted (wars and gales spring to mind as likely causes); or classes die out and their trophies are allocated to other classes. Auckland’s 22ft (6.7m) Mullet Boats are a remarkable exception to both those trends because, in May of this year, they completed a century of unbroken annual competition for their own coveted trophy: the Lipton Cup. It wasn’t until the 1880s that the term ‘Mullet Boat’ came into general use, but these local fishing boats had been developing since Auckland’s foundation in 1840, specifically for catching mullet in the estuaries within the Hauraki Gulf. Over time they evolved into…

Carina has been creating a bit of a stir in the Solent this early summer, ever since she arrived by transport ship at nearby Southampton early in June. Any large classic motor yacht will do that, and in Carina’s case, the black paint job and the canoe stern help the wow factor along nicely. Under way, that big American ensign sets the picture off, a flag that has always signified wealth and glamour and, these days, with an exciting hint of controversy about it too. The picture is intoxicating. Her owner Joe Loughborough is, in fact English. Joe is best known for his boatyard Loughborough Marine Interests in Rhode Island, and he is the man behind some of the most famous sailing yacht restorations of all time including three of…

Edited by Steffan Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk Gamecock, the last surviving Whitstable-built oyster yawl, has been spared an ignominious demise on the Faversham saltmarshes, writes Richard Hare. Thanks to generous local support, the 42ft (13m), 1907 larch-on-oak fishing boat is now in the early stages of a restoration in the care of registered charity Whitstable Maritime. The project, taking place in public view on hardstanding in Whitstable’s active fishing and ballast harbour, is headed by trust chairman Gordon Vincent and the day-to-day running is in the hands of shipwright Morgan Lewis and technical advisor Alan Staley. After restoration to full working glory, the aim is to welcome visitors aboard and teach them about the boat and Whitstable’s maritime heritage. In summer months Gamecock will lie afloat…

In an airy shed in Gweek, Cornwall, not far from where Luke Powell built most of his nine pilot cutters, Ben Harris (right) is well into his third major build: a 34ft gaff cutter loosely based on the famous Falmouth quay punt Curlew. Ever since Ben took the lines off Curlew while she was on the hard in Falmouth, he has dreamed of building a replica. His chance came when local wooden boat enthusiast Simon Whisker approached him to buy his own boat Alva, a 30ft Paul Gartside design, which he had tentatively put on the market. After much discussion, Simon agreed to commission a bigger design based on Curlew’s lines. Falmouth-based yacht designer Jack Gifford produced a new set of lines, similar in profile to Curlew but a bit…

Spirit Yachts has announced a recruitment drive in response to a full order book for new sailing yachts and continued interest in the company’s sail and motor yacht designs. Mike Taylor, MD and head of production at the yard commented “Having analysed the production schedule and with our current enquiry rate, we are looking to recruit up to 20 staff by the end of the year.” Spirit Yachts currently employs a team of designers, naval architects, boatbuilders, finishers, cabinetmakers and electrical and engineering experts. Mike Taylor added, “We are keen to talk to experienced candidates and applicants of any level who have the right attitude to learn what it takes to design and build the most exquisite wooden yachts in the world. Our existing team comprises highly skilled craftsmen and…

Stopped hinges For supporting the open lid of a small box, the stopped hinge is easier to fit than a quadrant hinge, which requires a deep mortise to accommodate its curved arm, and tidier than a stay. Stopped hinges are made with square knuckles so that, when open, the lid stands at 950, with the knuckle of one hinge leaf bearing on the back of the box while the other bears on the lid. It’s the classic hinge of the sailor’s ditty box, where the open lid supported upright maintains a degree of privacy while also making minimal demands on space. The stopped hinges of this old navy ditty box are 1½ x 5/8in. Similar 1¼ x 5/8in hinges in heavy brass made by Brusso of the USA are available…